INTERPOL WASHINGTON PROJECT TERMINUS BOOSTS BORDER SECURITY CAPABILITIES IN COLOMBIA

Through INTERPOL Washington’s Project TERMINUS and U.S. Department of State Counter Terrorism funding, a team from INTERPOL Washington’s Border Security Division traveled to Bogotá, Colombia to further ongoing support efforts under Project TERMINUS. In addition to discussing available Project TERMINUS solutions to enhance screening of travelers against INTERPOL databases and enhance critical day-to-day operations of National Central Bureau Bogotá, the team delivered computer equipment and two custom software solutions developed by INTERPOL Washington, the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) Workbench and the Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) workbench. The two solutions empower INTERPOL member countries to quickly and easily share, manage, and extend vital information pertaining to SLTD and SMV in the INTERPOL databases.

“Colombia has achieved a significant milestone, becoming the first INTERPOL partner nation to implement the SLTD Workbench and SMV Workbench solutions,” announced INTERPOL Washington Border Security Division Deputy Assistant Director Keith Hood, emphasizing the country's pioneering role in enhancing global security. “This is thanks to NCB’s Bogota’s willingness to lean forward in the fight to make our international borders more secure.”

A team from INTERPOL Washington meets with Colombian police and security officials in Bogota during the Project TERMINUS support efforts.

Project TERMINUS seeks to establish or enhance INTERPOL screening and record submission by INTERPOL member countries through computer hardware and custom software solutions that ease service adoption and enhance the data's usability and effectiveness. 

Beyond its primary capacity-building objective, Project TERMINUS assists the broader U.S. government law enforcement mission by connecting U.S. government law enforcement agencies to partner nation entities, benefiting the partner nation and the global law enforcement effort. In Bogota, Project TERMINUS introduced the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Attaché to NCB Bogotá, including him in meetings with NCB Bogotá and Columbia Immigration. The CBP Attaché participated in detailed discussions with NCB Bogota regarding Colombia’s current capabilities, some of its challenges, and opportunities for improvement.